lilili

Only as a friend

I feel like your explanation of the scenes is more compelling than what we were actually shown in the drama. But thank you for putting that together, you make good arguments here.

I only made it to episode 2 but there's explicit scenes in both episodes.

Considering how much money they poured into this project the visuals are very dull.

Thank you for explaining that because I completely missed the context and could not figure out why that scene was in there other than to throw in a gratuitous sex scene. I still think it's dumb but at least now I understand why it's there.

"But above all, director just want to make it like the Asian Game of Thrones 😂" YEP

Two scenes later we see him tell her to abdicate because she's in danger and he will help her escape. So the whole licking scene was completely gratuitous and made no sense. Bad, stupid writing.

The writer had Eul Pa Soo tell the King, it's bad writing

I think the writing is weak and even though the production values look expensive the visuals are kind of dreary. If you took out the sex this drama wouldn't hold up on its own as a compelling story. I do think the actors are strong, esp Jeon Jong Seo and Ji Chang Wook. But you should check it out for yourself. If you were a fan of Game of Thrones you'll likely enjoy it even though it's way less intense than GoT.

In the early 2000s there were a lot of dramas with implied sex. Dalja's Spring, My Lovely Sam Soon, Coffee Prince, I Do, I Do, Scent of a Woman, Hotel King, Reply 1997, Fated to Love You, Hogu's Love among others. But then a conservative government came into power and imposed new broadcast standards on the country. So if anything the newer dramas coming out with implied sex are a return to what was happening in dramas 10-15 years ago. The chasteness was artificially imposed. The Korean public wants to see this content.

I'm not a sageuk fan but a lot of it just felt very silly and pointless. Like the orgy scene in EP 1 that was supposedly to protect the Queen but did absolutely nothing, a few scenes later he told her to voluntarily step down and he would help her escape, that makes way more sense but then you don't get a sex scene out of it ( I'm not offended by the sex and nudity but it was just dumb)

It's kind of tropey but there's also a lot that you don't usually see in dramas. The female lead drinks, smokes, swears, is obsessed with money, has lots of sex and even buys her own condoms. The drama touches on inequality at work and how single women are discriminated against. Also there's a really funny trope subversion at the end of the second episode.

Yes it's worth watching. Hard to compare it to other dramas, it's kind of a mashup of Because This is My First Life and Work Later, Drink Now

It's extensions, you can see it in certain shots

there is a serious subplot with the mom but thankfully it's not a serial killer 😂

Agree with everything you wrote. I just dropped Love Next Door and you are so right, it's a drama where not a single moment feels authentic and no one speaks like a real human being. Meanwhile No Gain, No Love is super sharp and funny with vivid characters and social critique but served up with tropes we love.

I've seen Jung So Min speak English in her vlog and she had a better accent than she did in the drama, I'm so confused

The styling is the only thing I don't like. Those socks

I think weddings are cheaper in Korea, they only last a couple of hours and usually they don't do a huge meal, you rent your wedding dress, you generally don't have a band or a DJ, it's just a different wedding culture there

Fated to Love You (2014) has a hilarious fantasy sequence where the leads are pounding tteok to represent their first time in bed

But the drama also implied that he wants to protect her from the sleazy guy who lives in his building, that's why he destroyed the guy's phone. It's after that that he agrees to marry her.